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      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2020

        Land, Power and Conflict - 2nd edition

        An Agro-History of the World

        by Pierre Blanc

        The land provides resources and confers power on those who appropriate them. Our societies have constantly fought to control these resources, through conquests, civil wars, authoritarianisms, etc. How many bloody passages of political history have played out against a backdrop of contested land distribution? How many countries have expressed their desire for domination and security through territorial control? How many peoples have seen their land stolen, and with it their dreams of recognition?

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2019

        White Lead

        History of a Legal Poison

        by Judith Rainhorn

        There is not a single area of everyday life that is free from suspected or confirmed poisons - asbestos, pesticides, phlalates, etc.- carcinogens or endocrine disruptors. To understand the reasons for our collective acceptance of this situation, this book investigates the history of white lead and the social, industrial, scientific and political rationales that have imposed their rhythms and requirements, making it – for centuries - a legal poison.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2018

        The Behaviorist Bias

        by Henri Bergeron, Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier, Patrick Castel, Jeanne Lazarus, Étienne Nouguez, Olivier Pilmis

        "Nudges" toward good behavior use individuals' cognitive bias to modify their behavior without them needing to think, or even understand the stakes. Easy to implement and inexpensive, they have become the alpha and omega of resolving social problems, whether in terms of environment, health, finance or tax. We need a critical analysis of behavioral knowledge and its applications, in order to understand its success and explore its limitations.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2021

        European Diplomacy

        19th-21st centuries

        by Laurence Badel

        European diplomacies are characterised by widely varied practices, whether in training staff, the place of women, culture, the negotiating language they use, or in the way they construct networks and build identities. Diplomacy in Europe, which this book provides a unique history of, is firstly that of the cohabitation between small, medium, and large states, combining diplomacy of power, of trade, and of values. It is also a history of forms of cooperation that, from multinational empires to nation-states, are reconfigured into a regional framework, while coming up against the practices of other spheres. The profound contemporary transformation of diplomacy as a profession must be interpreted in light of these traditions, exposed to the increased complexity of missions, and the emergence of para-diplomatic actors. Practices specific to the European Union are slowly being put into place, yet the power relations between European states and the eminently political nature of their cultural and economic exchanges persist.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2021

        A Sociologist at the European Commission

        by Frédéric Mérand

        For four years, between 2015 and 2019, Frédéric Mérand went behind the wings at Berlaymont, the seat of the European Commission in Brussels, in order to observe and understand how Europe is really "made". Taking an ethnographic approach, he slipped into the team led by Pierre Moscovici, then European Commissioner for economic affairs under President Hollande, and later President Macron. Mérand shared offices with the men and women responsible for euro-zone policy, followed them through the corridors of their building in Brussels, sat with them at the canteen, and attended their meetings around the world. He questioned them on their strategies and methods, and their navigation between partisan struggles and diplomatic games. He listened to their fears and surprises, their hopes and disappointment during the various storms they weathered, from the Greek financial crisis, to tax evasion scandals, and the rise of the populist threat in Italy. This book provides the unique perspective of a North-American sociologist on our European and national practices, and on a European Commission that is clearly more political than it is technocratic.

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